TV

Recently I found myself talking to a baby boomer who told me I had an old soul and asked for my age. I told them I was turning 27 in April and they proceeded to tell me Im a millennial and how I was just coming into the world of nostalgia and he was right. Lately we’ve been getting our nostalgia fix on a daily. With new sequels, remakes and reboots. New Star Wars, Transformers, Jurassic Park, Zoolander, Spiderman, Mission impossible, Ghostbusters (I could literally go on) we’ve been getting a big dose of yesteryears. TV was no exception. Watch any Jimmy Fallon clips and you’ll see what I mean.

Teen Wolf, MTV’s Scream, Shows like “Full House” (now Fuller House) and Gilmore girls are having second lives on Netflix, That’s so Raven coming back on the Disney Channel and I wonder how long it will go. One reboot just officially ended and that’s Disney sequel to Boy meets World, “Girl Meets World”. Premiering to widespread critical acclaim back in 2014, Girl Meets World focuses on Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard) – teen daughter of BMW super-couple Corey (Ben Savage) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel) – and her journey through middle (and later high) school alongside friends Maya (Sabrina Carpenter), Lucas (Peyton Meyer) and Farkle (Corey Fogelmanis).

I grew up watching Boy meets world, saw every original broadcasts on ABC (remember TGIF?) and the reruns on the disney channel and ABC family so I was initially excited to see them bring the show back. I thought it was cool to see what Corey, Topanga, Feeny, Shawn and Eric been up to. So I tuned in to the premiere to see what the show would look like. I haven’t watched Disney channel in years and I didn’t have my Godson around me as much so I have no clue whats going on in children programming but I wasn’t waiting to have a kid to see what Girl meets world looks like (you should of seen the midnight screening crowd I was in to see Finding Dory, not a kid in site!). I truly felt what Nostalgia felt like. It was like the character been living their lives the whole time and it felt good to see them again...but you know how it feels to see an old friend and you just want to rekindle and catch up on old times until things get played out and you can’t wait for them to go home so you can rekindle another time? That’s how I felt trying to keep up with the series.

Like I said before, I don’t have any children so I literally have no reason to tune into Disney channel so I keep forgetting the series was back on(I did go back to Nickelodeon at times to see old episodes of All That and Rugrats). Thanks to blogs, I sometimes got an update that older characters were appearing on the show and tune back in to see Shawn get Married by Mr Feeny or when Eric came to visit but I really had no interest in the series in total. The cast was great but the show is for a new demographic, nostalgia goes out the window when it’s time to focus on the kids (it is on disney channel). For that fact, I never tuned back in but when I heard it was ending (again, through blogs) I had to come back and see how the show was going to end.

The series creator Michael Jacobs revealed that there was early talks are underway to continue Girl Meets World on another platform but he stressed that those talks were in the very early stages, and nothing was for sure yet so as of now, the season 3 finale on Disney Channel is now a series finale.

So I called my twin brother and we tuned in together for another nostalgia fix knowing they would bring back the older cast and when I say they brought back everybody, THEY BROUGHT BACK EVERYBODY. I was shocked to see the original little sister Morgan and her replacement both on set at the same time, they even joked about it (it was in way better taste than the full house cast joke about the Olsens not being there). The show started off great but I was quickly reminded why I never continued watching the reboot. The transitions to the same location over and over with annoying guitar riff, the fact I had no clue who any of the other children were, the fact Corey is a grown a** man still behaving as he did in season1, (it was insulting). I was seeing the old faces but not getting the same feeling I got watching the ending of the original Boy Meets World. It felt forced. Im sure for kids who watch the show and are big fans might feel different but as an adult fan of the original series, it’s just not the same. It’s good to see old friends and family but I know for a fact if the show comes back on Im not tuning back in.

Which made me wonder how long until we get tired of the remakes, reboots and Sequels? I loved Star Wars Rogue one but with a new installment or spin off every year with the next Marvel or DC or Pixar sequel (there are way too many franchise sequels and remakes to name here). Either or, I know Im going to keep seeing these films in theaters, still see these reunions on TV because like most American millennial, I need that dose of Nostalgia but I can already see that this is going to fade out soon..maybe after the scarface remake?

I haven't caught up with the Philly gang for quite some time. When It first started on Comedy Central years ago I tuned in every week and did the same when they switched to FX but as I got older and busier, I've only caught repeats and reruns. If I didn't see it on SVOD platforms like Netflix or during a meeting with Flip The Hood Co-Creator David Campbell playing in the background, I didn't see it at all but recently I seen an ad for the Season 12 Premiere and I just had to see it. I didn't know how to feel. I didn't know if I should be offended but I was laughing at the concept. These characters aren't good people, so what would happen if they were black for a day? I mean, do you remember when they went black face to play Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon? (I got to admit tho, I thought it was pretty funny).

Each member of the gang shows varying degrees of dishonesty, egotism, selfishness, greed, pettiness, ignorance, laziness, and unethical behavior; they are often engaged in controversial activities. Episodes usually find them hatching elaborate schemes and conspiring against one another and others for personal gain, vengeance, or simply the entertainment of watching another's downfall. In their latest episode, the gang get struck by lightning and wake up in black bodies. They name different movies and series trying to understand what happened to them. Wizard of Oz? Freaky Friday? Quantom Leap? To Me, this reminds me of the film Watermelon Man, a 1970 American comedy-drama film, directed by Melvin Van Peebles. It tells the story of an extremely bigoted 1960s era White insurance salesman named Jeff Gerber, who wakes up one morning to find that he has become Black. The premise for the film was inspired by Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, and by John Howard Griffin's autobiographical Black Like Me.

Unlike the film, the Sunny gang have a different but very similar experience, the biggest difference is they believe they were in a musical (because it was easier to explain the plot in song, and not because black people are musical). Frank sings waiting for the moment he can say the N word (he doesn't) and the others get their white privilege checked at the door while asking "What are the rules?" (they could of got a copy of Hidden Colors 1-4 and got their answer). I think this episode is my favorite episode out of all of all 12 seasons. I wasn't as offended as I thought I would be when I saw the ad and actually ended up appreciating it. It was funny and insightful to hear what the other half think what "black life" is and the question I ask all the time when it comes to white supremacy, What are the rules?

I love it's "Always Sunny". Its a very funny show. Charlie Day and Danny Devito are my favorite. As sick and twisted as this show is, I can't help myself from laughing. Espeically because I've seen Danny Devito's work as a director. Have you ever seen his film "Hoffa"? He doesn't need to stoop this low to do this type of comedy, but he does and it makes it even funnier. I met the director of Watermelon Man when I was 21. I wonder what he would think of this episode? ​It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia airs Wednesdays at 10 pm on FXX.